TL;DR
Category 2 water, called gray water in the trade, is water carrying significant contamination that could sicken someone who drinks or contacts it, the IICRC S500 middle class covering dishwasher and washing machine discharge, toilet overflows with urine only, aquarium spills, and sump seepage. Its presence changes the protocol: porous materials like carpet pad are discarded, salvageable surfaces are cleaned and treated with antimicrobials before drying, and technicians wear protective equipment.
What it means
Category 2 water, called gray water in the trade, is water carrying significant contamination that could sicken someone who drinks or contacts it, the IICRC S500 middle class covering dishwasher and washing machine discharge, toilet overflows with urine only, aquarium spills, and sump seepage. Its presence changes the protocol: porous materials like carpet pad are discarded, salvageable surfaces are cleaned and treated with antimicrobials before drying, and technicians wear protective equipment. Left wet for around 48 hours it escalates to Category 3, dragging the scope and cost up with it.
Where it sits in the glossary
Category 2 water is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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